Jackbot XL
"Oh it's the Jackbot! *chortle* I thought those were banned from training exercises. Boy oh boy, the Assault's really in trouble now!" ~ Mickey Cantor The Jackbot XL (more commonly known as the "Jackbot") is the largest and most powerful bot seen in Monday Night Combat. Jackbots appear in both Blitz and Crossfire game modes. Jackbots represent a significant change from the bots typically encountered by players, almost all of which can be destroyed by any character class with little risk to the player. With tremendous health, good damage output, and a surprising "ground slam" ability, Jackbots are a large threat to unorganized teams. Many Crossfire strategies and tips deal specifically with neutralizing an opponent's Jackbot or maximizing the effectiveness of your own. Stats Health: 20,000 Health Regen Delay: 30 seconds without damage Health Regen Time: 30 seconds to full Speed: 300 Cannon Damage: 150 Cannon Radius: 256 Cannon Projectile Speed: 3000 Attack Interval: 1 second Targeting Range: 4096 units Damage vs Bots: 1500 Damage vs Turrets: 600 Damage vs Money Ball: 75 Slam Damage: 200 Slam Radius: 1408 units Slam Regen: 20 seconds Abilities * Primary weapon: Rocket Launchers. The Jackbot fires a rocket from each arm at moderate speed with a good rate of fire. The rockets will deal splash damage to a short surrounding area of impact and can knock back Pros slightly. Because of the slower speed of the rockets than traditional lasers, the Jackbot will lead its shots at an enemy Pro, making strafing difficult. * Secondary ability: Ground slam. The Jackbot raises its arm and slams it to the ground, causing a shock wave that stuns and knocks back all nearby opponents except a deployed Tank or Gunner. Turrets and firebases will not be knocked back if the Jackbot uses this move, but they still will sustain damage. The Jackbot will always use this move when a visible enemy Pro approaches it or if it gets close to a visible pro. However it cannot affect Pros on a higher elevation. * Weaknesses: ** The Jackbot can be stunned by the Tank's Product Grenade. ** The Sniper and Assassin are the only characters who can grapple the Jackbot, each doing extreme damage to the bot presumably halving its health after the first grapple. *** The Sniper is the only class that can grapple the Jackbot with two different grapples (both the SMG and red-skill grapple), which effectively kills any Crossfire Jackbots. *** Note - While the assasin has 2 (3 if counting dagger and sword) grapple animations, they both operate on the same cooldown timer, unlike the sniper's grapples. ** Air Strikes (Support) and Bombs (Assault) can be "stuck." ** One stuck fully upgraded Bomb will deal more damage than 3 air strikes in a row. * Note: ** '' The Jackbot has significantly higher armor than any other bot. Game appearances and behavior Blitz Jackbots appear in most Blitz challenges, typically every 10th round although exceptions exist. More difficult Blitz challenges will spawn multiple Jackbots on the 20th and later rounds. Solo players can have trouble dealing with Jackbots, especially when they spawn in groups; Juice is a recommended solution when dealing with Jackbot rounds. Crossfire A single Jackbot will spawn at each team's base at five-minute intervals during a Crossfire match; Bullseye's appearance in the arena always means Jackbots are due up. They also spawn on a continual basis in Overtime. Jackbots will follow the same path toward the enemy's base that breach bots follow, and will stop to engage any enemy bot, player, or turret they encounter along the way. Opposing Jackbots will never spawn on opposite ends of the same path (except in Overtime, when they'll come from all Spawns at once, or in Spunky Cola Arena or Uncle Tully's Funland, where there is only one Bot Lane) but may stop to fire at an enemy Jackbot if it comes into range. Like all bots, Jackbots will spawn with less than full health if their team's Money Ball shield is down (this includes during Overtime). Strategy : See Category:Match-ups for class-specific strategies against Jackbots. Defeating a Jackbot Jackbots can kill unaware players quickly and easily, but most alert players can dodge its rockets and ground slam with practice. Actually stopping the Jackbot before it destroys a base takes teamwork. It is important to bring down a Jackbot before it reaches the Money Ball, as the ball's shields will go down in seconds once the Jackbot is in range and targets the ball, and the combination of Jackbot missiles, ground slams, and the swarming of enemy Pros will make defense a nightmare. Even before it reaches the Money Ball, the havoc it can wreak on defending Turrets encourages teams to get rid of the Jackbot before they come under fire. * The most important player for defeating Jackbots is an Assassin, who is the only player besides the Sniper with the ability to grapple a Jackbot and the only one who can make the initial approach without being detected. A successful grapple will do around 50% damage to a Jackbot. The Sniper's grapple, while equally powerful, is harder to land without the Assassin's Cloak. However, he can do it twice in a row (the alternate fire of the SMG and the Sniper Grapple skill), enabling him to take out the Jackbot single-handedly. Also remember that Jackbots spawn with only half health when the other team's Money Ball is exposed. This means only one Grapple is usually needed to topple a Jackbot in that condition. * It should also be noted that possibly the best method of defeating a Jackbot is for an Assassin to cloak, approach the Jackbot and attack it from behind with the Sword, while the assasin can grapple the Jackbot, she does more damage (and is a less obvious target) without. A full health Jackbot can be taken down in seconds in this way because the blade deals so much damage to bots. * The Jackbot will always stop to do a ground slam if you get near it. Players attempting to grapple or Assassin's trying to attack a Jackbot should be prepared to jump or hover over the shock wave. Skilled players (able to evade the slams) may even use this tendency to delay a Jackbot by making it slam repeatedly. * Jackbots can turn to either side to some extent, but they can't turn all the way around. Speedy players or those already near the spawn can take advantage by getting behind the Jackbot early to attack it from a point where its options for counterattack are limited. * Assault's can use their Jetpack to float above the shockwaves. Tanks and Gunners can use their Jump Jets similarly.'' Note that the Slam is latency related, so if you have a high ping, be prepared to perform a pre-emptitive jump to attune yourself with the server.'' * An Assault's Bomb will do significant damage to a Jackbot when "stuck" to it, while the damage from a non-stuck Bomb will do very little. * Support's Air Strike makes an excellent anti-Jackbot tool, particularly the level 3 upgrade. * Jackbots will always stop to engage an enemy turret until the turret is destroyed, including a Firebase. Use turrets to slow a Jackbot's push into your base; throwing away $25 on a Lazer Blazer is an excellent trade if it creates time for the team's Assassin to grapple the bot. * Don't obsess over a Support healing their Jackbot. Most classes should easily out-pace a Support's healing using their own anti-bot weapons. * Other classes should switch to their anti-bot weapons to do any appreciable damage (Grenade Launchers, Mortar Launchers, Jet Guns, etc.). * An Annihilator attack will do significant damage to a Jackbot because it'll strike it multiple times. * The Tank's Product Grenade, if upgraded, will stun the Jackbot temporarily unless the Jackbot has already started performing its ground slam attack. * Gunner's are probably the worst players for attacking jackbots, as their weapons aren't meant for bot combat. If you are playing as a gunner though you could dammage it for money, or use the jackbots as distractions for attacks on unsuspecting enemies. * Jackbots are perfect for farming juice. If you can sneak up behind an enemy Jackbot you can melee him for moderate juice increments. If you can time the slam right you should be able to get a full bar of juice from the Jackbot if you are careful. * In Blitz, Tanks are great at killing Jackbots. Using their Product Grenade and a series of 3 - 4 juiced Death Blossom can disable and kill the Jackbot quickly saving your turrets from the Jackbot's attack. * The best tactic for Gunners trying to kill a Jackbot is for them to level 3 deploy and attack using a level 3 Mortar Launcher from a distance so that the shots split as they hit the Jackbot. This tactic is quick and effectively nets you a large amount of juice. * Jackbots make a distinctive but deafening growl that can be heard from the other side of the arena. Use this to alert your team that the 'big-boys' are in town. If you take out a Jackbot by yourself, you earn $75. A team job on the Jackbot earns each participant $65 for the Assist, meaning it is a good idea to attack the Jackbot, even if you do little to no damage (A 1 damage hit from an assault rifle from across the map will ensure the bonus). The Jackbot also drops a large amount of coins, Juice containers, temporary speed upgrades, and even (rarely) Bacon when it is destroyed. Defending a friendly Jackbot Just as important as defeating the opponent's Jackbots is supporting your own. Since the Assassin is arguably most crucial in bringing down a Jackbot, defeating enemy Assassins before they can grapple is of prime concern to anyone supporting a Jackbot. Bombs, Air Strikes, Traps, Explosive Shots, and Flak can make the area around a Jackbot a dangerous place for an Assassin. Players with high armor can stay near the Jackbot's back to intercept an Assassin's grapple, saving the Jackbot tremendous damage. Other general escort tips: * "Push" with the Jackbot the same way you would push with other bots. Destroy enemy bots so it doesn't have to stop to engage them. Remove Firebases and turrets to speed his progress to the enemy base. Attack other players so they have to fall back to heal. * But don't forget that if your Jackbot is on the field, the other team's probably is too! * Maximize the advantage of your Jackbot by hitting the Annihilator after it spawns. It will severely damage the enemy's Jackbot and make it much easier to kill. With your team no longer distracted by the enemy Jackbot, you can better leverage the advantage of having your own. * A damaged Jackbot is very valuable to a Support because of its high health it makes it very hard for the Support to heal allowing him a continuous stream of juice. Trivia *According to the Pro Tips shown in game, Jackbot XL's have made their first appearance this season after being banned for the last 10 years. *This bot has one of the most inconsistently referred to names in game: **In the How to Play section, they are referred to simply as "Jackbot" **In the Career section, they are referred to as "Jackbot XL" **In the Highlights section, they are referred to as "JackbotXL *The Jackbot always spawns after Bullseye leaves the arena. *Jackbots very rarely drop bacon. *Unlike other Bots, Jackbots make growling noises that can be heard from the other side of the Arena. These noises echo through the arena intimidating new players and letting those with experience know what they're up against. Gallery Hotshot Jackbot.png|Hotshot's Jackbot. Icemen Jackbot.png|Icemen's Jackbot. Jackbot XL portrait.png|Concept art. Super MNC A powerful and deadly bot that spawns when one team's Moneyball goes down, when 25 minutes of Super Crossfire gameplay (16 minutes in Turbocross) has passed, or when bought from team-specific spawners in each base for 4000$. Each time the Moneyball shield of a team goes down, the opposing team automatically spawns two Jackbots. Jackbots have two moves in their arsenal, their arm cannons that fire against enemies, and stomping the ground which sends Pros flying and applies a slowing effect for a few seconds. Pros are able to use any grapple ability they may have to temporarily immobilise and damage the Jackbot, preventing it from advancing and doing any damage. Abilities with slowing or stunning effects will stop it as well for a moment. Often teams take it in turns to grapple the jackbot (as grapple attacks often have a cooldown) while the rest of the team uses any available means to bring it down. Headshots do deal extra damage to the Jackbot, and therefore Sharpshooters are advised to aim for its noggin. Quite often a team can "clutch" a victory after the 25 minutes of regular play has expired, if they can escort their Jackbot XL to the teams money ball quicker and safer than their opponents. In such an "overtime" situation will Jackbots only spawn in one lane for each team, so Jackbots don't interfere with each other unless more are spawned by the players in the opposing lane. Inversely, it may also be bought early on in the game if one team is exceptionally strong, usually resulting in a quick victory. Keep in mind that while grappling the Jackbot XL you are vulnerable to enemy fire, which makes taming this giant an even riskier prospect. If both teams are equally strong, an annihilator attack is often what decides a match in combination with taking the enemy team out long enough to escort your own Jackbots to the money ball. Spawning additional Bouncers to distract the enemy from your Jackbots or increasing the pressure on a lane by buying an additional Jackbot to the one who already spawned are also good tactics. Category:Gameplay Category:Strategy Category:Bots